This invention pertains to a front side extractor tool for removing single pins from a connector to enable pin replacement and more particularly to an extraction tool for removing pins from connectors having high density, closely spaced pin structures.
When making, assembling or using connectors with a dense array of connector pins, especially those connectors using compliant pins, it is often expedient to remove and replace single connector pins to reclaim devices with only one or a few broken or defective pins. This replacement becomes more necessary as connectors have become more expensive and complex with densities of hundreds of pins. Further, when compliant pin connectors are used which are a one time connection, it is essential that a single pin be replaced without the disconnection and replacement of the entire connector.
Single pin removal was not difficult when a device used only a few pins. Under such conditions a needle nose pliers could seize and enable removal of a single pin. However, such a procedure is not effective to remove pins from connectors using current state of the art pin densities. Existing pin extractors may use constricting jaws that seize opposite sides of the pin or are positioned behind a pin projecting portion to permit the tool and pin to be drawn away in unison from the connector. Another mode of pin extraction is the use of a tool that is formed with the jaws of a chuck at the end of a shaft which are caused to constrict about a pin by sliding a sleeve or other member that induces radially inward movement of the jaws of the chuck. These devices, although effective, are of limited use in high density, current state of the art connector applications where adjacent pins within a matrix of rows and columns have center line to center line spacings of two millimeters and distances between adjacent pin surfaces of no more than one millimeter and where the connector often includes shields or blades between adjacent rows of pins, further reducing the clearance surrounding individual pins. In such confined spaces, current extraction tool designs make it difficult to remove a single pin without compromising the structural integrity of adjacent pins or other adjoining structure.
The front side pin extractor of the present invention uses a sleeve which has an inner diameter large enough to permit it to be aligned with a selected pin to be removed and advanced to surround the pin with the end or nose abutting the connector body at the base of the pin. A wedge pin, which has an outer diameter substantially the same as the inner diameter of the sleeve, but with sufficient clearance to permit ease of movement axially within the sleeve, is used to drive a terminal end wedge surface between the sleeve and the pin. The terminal end of the wedge pin is an extended surface formed as a planar surface which forms an angle of about 11 degrees with the axis of the pin. To enhance the frictional force retaining the wedged pin within the sleeve, the inner sleeve surface surrounding the pin is rough or irregular. This roughened surface can be achieved either not finishing the sleeve inner surface during fabrication or actively working the surface to achieve the desired roughened surface.
The extractor tool is shown as a body portion including a flange at one end and a sleeve that is aligned with and advanced to surround a defective pin to be removed at the opposite end. Formed as a single piece, the body includes a bore or central opening extending axially therethrough with an enlarged portion within the flange and the principal length of the body and a reduced diameter within the terminal sleeve portion. A plunger or shaft with a diameter similar to the body axial bore, but sufficiently smaller to enable the shaft to slide axially within the body bore, is received within the body central opening and further includes a reduced diameter shaft extension which is received within the body portion sleeve and functions as the wedge pin with the terminal wedging surface integral therewith. At the opposite end, the shaft includes an integral knob of substantially the same outer diameter as the body portion flange. As a hand tool, the body portion sleeve is aligned with a single pin to be removed and extended to surround the pin and abut the connector body. The shaft knob and body portion flange can then be forced toward one another to cause the wedge pin to clamp the connector pin against the inner wall of the sleeve and allow the extractor tool to be withdrawn from the connector, causing the pin to move in unison therewith and be extracted from the connector.